Needle bearing



June 11, 1929. R. GOTZ I NEEDLE BEARING Filed Mafch 25 1925 Inventor mtorncg Patented June 11, 1929.

UNITED STATES 3.10am ohm, or BERLIN-GROSS nrcn'rnnrnnnn, GERMANY.

NEEDLE BEARING.

Application filed March 25, 1925. Serial No. 18,179.

This invention relates to bearings, and more place. For this reason sliding bearings can only be used with engines the speed of rotation of which is not' very high.

Bearings suitable for the connecting rods of high-speed engines should possess the following characteristics :small oil requirements, the minimum friction i, e., high mechanical efficiency, large bearing surface i. e. small specific'bearing pressure, and small 7 0 weight. So-called basketor cage-bearings consequently cannot be used for crank pins, because the centrifugal forces arising would damage the basketv or cage very rapidly. Moreover, their dimensions are too great, and due to the swinging movement of the connecting rod the masses of the rolling intermediatemembers,balls, rollers, rolls, basket and cage are alternately accelerated and retarded. As a result rollers, rolland ballbearings cannot be used for connecting rods of the modern high speed engines such as are mainly-em loyed in automobiles. The sub ect of the present invention is a bearing and lubricating means which avoids the disadvantage mentionedabove and moreover can be fitted to existing en 'nes without diflicult The new bearing consists of a bearing she made up of multiple sections between the axle pin and the connecting rod, 4 the separate parts of which consist of rods of small diameter of the order or size of piano wire contacting with one another so as to form in normal running a sliding hearing or a sliding sleeve freely rotating about the axle, and of which only a few, at times of overload, have a rotation of their own. The new bearing thus constitutes a slidingand a rollingbearing. The opening in the smalllendvand the big rovide at the sides thereof inwardl pro-. ecting edges which limit the seating or the rods and also form oil reservoirs in which the rods are disposed.-

end of the connecting rod are so formed as to r by needles 9' (Fig. 4) forming a kind of slid The.'use in a roller bearing of rods of small dlameter in relation to their length is not of course new. For instance in the bearings for the drawing rollers for spinning machines such a form of hearing has been suggested the rods, however, being arranged as a sleeve or cage with play between them. l A connecting rod with the improved bearmg and lubrication is shown, by way of example, on the accompanying drawings, in which Fig; 1 is a longitudinal section and Fig. 2 a side elevation partly in section.

Figs. 3 and 4 show each one of the needles tused in the head eye and foot eye respec- The divided head (1 of the connecting rod a has a bore which, except at a narrow annular flange e at either side, is of greater diameter than the diameter of the axle pin 7''. A recessbis thus formed into whichthe needles 9 are inserted which are made from piano wire, silver wire or from structural-steel, tempered and polished, and which fit just between the flanges e. These needles 9 (Fig. 3) are in close contact with one another owing to their very little diameter compared with the length (2 to 5 mm. according to the diameter of the in) and under normal loads press with such riction on one another that they do not rotate about their own axes and thus with the usual bearing pressure the needles form a closed unit, i. e., a sliding bearing shell rotating freely about the crank pin f only with oc-' casional overloads, i. e., at the commencement of the. explosion period, the pressure u on some of the needles, which are just expose to the stress, becomes so great that they are carried round by the connecting rod head at and execute an individual rotation or rolling action.

.Oil is supplied into the recess b-at splashlubricationfrom the tubular socket o, orat pressure lubrication-ethe oil is forced from the channel k in the axle pin f into the groove 6 (Fig. 1). The annular space b is in any case filled with oil which remains in the same owing to the inwardly projecting flanges e. The oil cannot be thrown out and remains in the annular space even when the engine is stopped so that the rod is always abundantly lubricated.

, The bolt p of piston r is also surrounded ing sleeve and located in a recess h of the foot eye d. By the projecting flanges e an ring or sleeve, which is compelled to revolve as an entirety in the same direction as the driving bearing member, without each single cylindrical needle being constrained to turn around itself.

2. In a bearing, the combination of relatively rotatable cylindrical bearing members, an intermediate bearing sleeve which revolves as an entirety and which includes a plurality of slidable bearing elements, said elements cooperatingwith each other and with the cylindrical bearing members to drawin andhold lubricant in wedge-shaped form between the elements and the bearing members.

3. In a bearing, the combination of relatively rotatable cylindrical bearing elements and an intermediate bearing sleeve which.

cooperation of the bearing elements.

4. In a bearing, the combination of relatively rotatable cylindrical bearing races and a plurality of cylindrical needles interposed therebetween, the clearances between the needles and the races being such that the needles normally have a sliding action on the races and are compelledto roll only when subjected to peak load pressure.

5. In a bearing, the combination of relatively rotatable cylindrical bearing races and a plurality of cylindrical needles interposed therebetween, the needles being of sufiicient length to secure by their line of contact a.

braking action between each other which normally prevents the needles fromassuming a rolling action from the driving bearing memher.

In testimony whereof I 'afiix my signature.

RICHARD GoTz. 

